Biden admin calls on SCOTUS to let police enter homes, confiscate guns without a warrant
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case about whether law enforcement officers can enter people’s home and confiscate guns without a warrant, Forbes reported.
This comes in the wake of two mass shootings in the past eight days that have renewed the gun control debate, which has been relatively dormant throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Caniglia v. Strom, Forbes senior contributor Nick Sibilla wrote, is a case that could have wide-ranging consequences for policing, due process, mental health, as well as the Fourth Amendment. Notably, as part of the case, the Biden administration and attorneys general from nine states are calling on the court to uphold warrantless gun confiscation.
The case all started with an elderly couple’s dispute over a coffee mug in August 2015.
To summarize the story, an argument led to the husband—Edward Caniglia—grabbing a handgun, putting it on the kitchen table, and telling his wife Kim: “Why don’t you just shoot me and get me out of my misery?” This led to more arguing and eventually to Mrs. Caniglia spending the night in a motel. She phoned her home the next day but got no answer, which prompted her to call the police in Cranston, Rhode Island and ask them to conduct a “well check” on her husband and to escort her home.
The police, however, did not conduct the check according to the books. They then insisted that Mr. Caniglia go to the hospital for an evaluation, though Mr. Caniglia refused, emphasizing that his mental health wasn’t their business. Mr. Caniglia agreed only after police promised—albeit falsely—they would not confiscate his guns while he was away.
Furthermore, officers then told Mrs. Caniglia that her husband had consented to the seizure, and she led them to the two handguns they owned, which were then seized. Despite Mr. Caniglia being immediately discharged from the hospital, police only gave back the firearms after he filed a civil rights case against them.
Significantly, when police confiscated the handguns, they did not allege it was to prevent imminent danger. Rather, they argued their actions were a manner of “community caretaking,” a slim exception to the warrant requirement in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
As Sibilla explained, the community caretaking exception was initially created by the Supreme Court about half a century ago and was designed for cases involving impounded cars and highway safety, because police are often called to car accidents to remove nuisances like inoperable vehicles on public roads.
https://saraacarter.com/biden-admin-calls-on-scotus-to-let-police-enter-homes-confiscate-guns-without-a-warrant/